Monthly archives for April, 2016

During the various walks with Adrian Odgers and Woodridge one of the stories he tells is about the resemblance between a telephone book and the paperbark tree. Well, now we have proof.

Hardly a month after the fire new shoots appear and soon we will have a lush tree again.

Talking about proof, we can also see that many Pelargoniums are pioneer plants. There are large patches of P.capitatum, P.ribifolium, P.radens and here on the pic P.grossularoides

We made good progress with clearing some more shrubbery and trees. It seems like it takes forever especially because lately we had quite a few time robbers on a Wednesday with people coming to talk and not to work. The retirement of two of the staff is already having an impact and there s no improvement in sight.

After all the gloom and doom lately after the fires the Reserve showed itself from its best side today.

Already in the way in the blanket over Ladyslipper was something special to see.

I will let the pictures speak for themselves, from the new growth on the Sterculia to the flowering Pelargonium, all too beautiful to behold.

Ellie also managed to get her hands on a weather station after two years of trying. It still needs some development to get the data on the internet but at last we will be able to record the weather data for the Reserve.

Our monthly meeting was geared towards planting trees in the arboretum, 36 to be exact. It is so good to see some greenery amongst the scorched earth. We had done our best to clear a large enough area and in the process created quite a heap.

Fortunately we had a good turnout including some strong men so the holes were dug in no time and all the trees Jenny had brought plus some extras from the nursery were planted.

One even found a home by the tap, handy for watering.

When everyone had gone we went scouting with Rob for a more suitable place for a new bird hide and we found this lovely Pachycarpus grandiflora near the Forest Walk.